Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

[scottyrocks]

[*]Blackboards with real chalk, not erasable marker boards

I agree. I scoured my school looking for a portable chalkboard to replace my whiteboard. I found one and the person who had it was thrilled to swap. Im back to white chalk on a green board and couldnt be happier.

 

[skyvue]

Remember when a toothbrush looked like one?

The earliest toothbrushes were sticks with one end smashed. Unless you're advocating returning to those, it's just updates and redesigns. Who decides, with the design of any product, when it's been perfected and should never be changed again? Cars have never looked the same for more than a few years at a time. Neither have toasters, vaccuums, or shaving equipment.

 

[Jools]

I'm sure someone has covered this, but:

Party lines. My parents had one, as did my grandmother. It was fun to eavesdrop on other people's conversations....and annoying if you wanted to make a call.

Answering machines- I can still remember getting one.

Milk delivery. Oddly, I MET our regular milkman's son recently. Dairigold delivered cottage cheese in these plastic/wicker tumbers/mugs. I recently picked some up at a thrift store! (this was from the 1960s.)

Gloves. Especially white gloves.

Stores in Seattle- Frederick & Nelson, Magnin's. A real tragedy that these icons of style are gone. Now, apparently, everyone buys their clothes at Old Navy, and looks like they just might wash a dog at any given moment.

Cigarette machines.

Pinball machines.

Amusement park rides AND the pony rides at the local zoo.

Hats.

Yardley perfumes.

 

[Pompidou]

When you said party lines, I was thinking political stances. I don't think party lines as you describe were around since I've been old enough to notice - say, for the last 15-16 years - never used the phone really, my first 15 or so. So, the point was that you could just pick up the phone and there'd be preexisting conversations going on? Sounds fun in potential.

I also bemoan the loss of pinball machines and popular arcades - at least in my area. They're dying fast.

 

[Jools]

Indeed, in the early 1960s we had a "party line". That meant, that it rang a certain ring if it was for you, another ring if it was for another person, ie"party." But you never knew when you picked up the phone to dial, if there would be someone ON the line or not. Ditto people eavesdropping on your conversation. This is when they still had actual phone operators. Since we had an upstairs extention at our house, it was possible to eavesdrop on someone eavesdropping on a third party! It was a bit disconcerting to be talking, and have someone else come on the line. (I was,however, a little child when we got a "private" line.)

I can still remember working an actual switchboard at my Junior High School in the office, in the 1970s!

 

[Jools]

Other things already mentioned:
Slips, and half slips. Pettipants, girdles, and garter belts. The 1960s introduced panty hose (although tights for children and ballerinas already existed.) because skirts were too short to wear garters.

Soda fountains: my neighborhood had five! It was a child's dream come true.

Callad & Bowser Dessert Nougat. I'd give my left pinkie for a taste.

 

[rue]

Stores in Seattle- Frederick & Nelson, Magnin's. A real tragedy that these icons of style are gone. Now, apparently, everyone buys their clothes at Old Navy, and looks like they just might wash a dog at any given moment.

I remember I.Magnins! I still have some clothes my mother bought me from that store! Not that they fit now... lol

 

[Shangas]

Remember when a toothbrush looked like one?

Yes. Although I can't honestly say I miss them. I get much better results from brushing my teeth with an electric one. My dentist told me so. We still have a few lying around the house that we use for cleaning stuff, though.

 

[CharlieB]

Yes. Although I can't honestly say I miss them. I get much better results from brushing my teeth with an electric one. My dentist told me so. We still have a few lying around the house that we use for cleaning stuff, though.

I switched to electic too (at my hygenists recommendation), however, it's hard to use an old one to clean things like you can with a traditional brush!

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

The earliest toothbrushes were sticks with one end smashed. Unless you're advocating returning to those, it's just updates and redesigns. Who decides, with the design of any product, when it's been perfected and should never be changed again? Cars have never looked the same for more than a few years at a time. Neither have toasters, vaccuums, or shaving equipment.

Yes, all the jazz and molding on the handles seems to change every day. Half of marketing today is selling somewhat traditional things and re-styling them to make people feel that they are state of the art. Funny to hear advertisements going on about the same things that were touted 60 years ago as the "newest" thing.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The problem with the futuristic-looking Ergonomic X2000 Teeth-Cleaning System-type brushes is that they won't fit in the toothbrush rack over the bathroom sink.

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

Yes. Although I can't honestly say I miss them. I get much better results from brushing my teeth with an electric one. My dentist told me so. We still have a few lying around the house that we use for cleaning stuff, though.

Of course I am referring to manual toothbrushes. I have never had an electric toothbrush, but they could be an improvement over the hand toothbrushes. All I'm saying is that the traditional toothbrush probably hasn't really got that much better since the 1930's or so. The improvements look to be in the styling and not much else. Kinda like air sole shoes, oh wait, this catalog is from 1937?

 

[CharlieB]

Another one just ocurred to me.

Hardware stores. Not the super-mega-be-everything-to-everyone "home" stores.

 

[Feraud]

Elbow grease. No one wants to break a "real" sweat anymore.
Going to a gym doesn't count.

 

[Foofoogal]

Common sense.

 

[scottyrocks]

Common sense.

Indeed.

 

[Wally_Hood]

Common sense.

Someone somewhere said "Common sense is neither."

 

[CharlieB]

Someone somewhere said "Common sense is neither."

Like common courtesy, niether seem to be common anymore.

 

[CharlieB]

I just heard about one we can soon add to the list: phonebooks.

I just read a news article that some states (NY, FLA and PA this month alone) have approved a phone company request to discontinue printed phonebooks.

Some professor from Syracuse U made a wise crack about people who don't have internet access are probably too old to read the small print in the whitepages anyway.

GRRRRRR.

 

[Foofoogal]

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/neither
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one of the exceptions of the i before e except after c.